We might compare the Kingdom of God to a
tulip bulb. If you hold a tulip bulb in your hand, you hold a tulip. The tulip
is hidden inside the bulb. But, you cannot find it by cutting the bulb apart.
You must plant it and allow it to grow. In the same way, God planted the seed
of His Kingdom in the earth of human history. As you trace this seed from its
root to its flowering, I hope you will see how this is all part of God’s
purpose. His purpose in creation; His purpose in mankind; His purpose in setting
apart a man Abraham; His purpose in setting apart a nation Israel; His purpose
in sending his Son Jesus; His purpose in Christ’s return to reign for 1000
years; and His purpose for eternity. The Kingdom has always been His purpose,
and if you “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” everything
else in life will make sense!
God has always wanted a Kingdom on Earth.
He created a perfect kingdom place (the garden of Eden) which was the Kingdom
of Heaven on Earth. He created mankind to serve in His Kingdom –to “rule and
reign over the Earth.” (Genesis 1:26-28) and to fellowship with Him. Sin
interrupted God’s plan, but in the end, He will fulfill His purpose as we will
see.The Kingdom of God is what we call a “Theocracy.” In a Democracy, the word “Democratic” comes from two Greek words; “demos” which means (people) and “kratos” which means (power). It means the power resides in the people. This is where we get our Democratic government which is “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Theocratic also comes from two Greek words; “Theos” meaning (God) and “kratos” again meaning (power). The power however, resides in God! It is God’s Kingdom. As such, the Bible gives us four possible references concerning this Kingdom;
* There is the Kingdom of God that is in the “heavenly realm.” It is an invisible realm that is all around us as in the story of Elisha, his servant, and the armies all around them. (2 Kings 6:14-16) Or, in the story where the angel was delayed in answering Daniel’s request. (Daniel 1:1-20) Another reference is Ephesians 6:12 – “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
* There is the Kingdom of God within us…(if God rules) (Luke 17:20 NKJ)
* There is the Kingdom of God to come on this earth, the millennial reign of Christ for 1000 years. (Revelation 20:1-6)
* There is the Eternal Kingdom of God that follows into eternity. (Revelation 21 – 22:6)
After Jesus told the parable of the Sower the disciples came up to Him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?" Jesus’ reply is interesting, and three of the gospel writers include it in their accounts: Matthew 13:11- He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.” Mark 4:11 - He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables” (This tells me that the Parables have something to do with the Kingdom of God.) Luke 8:10 - He said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, “though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.”
In John 3 Jesus told Nicodemus that “unless you are born again, you cannot “enter” the Kingdom of God”…and again he said “unless you are born again, you cannot “see” the Kingdom of God”. So, the prerequisite to getting in – is to be born again. The prerequisite to being able to “see” or understand –is to be born again. In 1 Corinthians 2:13-15 the Apostle Paul explains it this way; “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit”.
The subject of the Kingdom of God was spoken about by Jesus on numerous occasions, and it obviously has great importance. Jesus described his teaching and preaching as a message about the Kingdom of God (Luke 4:43; 8:1). Jesus taught his disciples that they were to pray that God’s Kingdom would come (Luke 11:2). Jesus instructed his disciples to proclaim the Kingdom of God (Luke 9:2), and many of the parables were illustrations used to instruct us regarding what the Kingdom of God is “like”. The epistles of the New Testament also mention the Kingdom of God often. The apostles wrote about inheriting the Kingdom of God and the coming of the Kingdom of God. But, the Epistle letters are written to show us what we, as kingdom people, ought to be doing and how we ought to be acting as we prepare for the coming Kingdom. So, it is in the gospels that we really get a better understanding of the concept of the Kingdom of God.
So just what is the Kingdom of God? That is no easy question to answer because the term is used broadly, so any definition will really fall short in some respects. Nevertheless, I would define the Kingdom of God as “the manifestation of God’s authority, power, and purposes, whether in a person or a place”. Let’s clarify this with an illustration; Many years ago, England was the world’s political superpower. She had colonies, which she ruled politically, all over the world. Collectively, England’s rule and these colonies were referred to as the "United Kingdom." It was called a Kingdom because that is where England exercised her authority and power, and purposes.
In Matthew 4:23 and 9:35 we read that “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
From these verses we can see that Jesus not only had a distinct message, the good news of the Kingdom, but also that He had a distinct ministry which illustrated that message, in healing every disease and sickness. Everything Jesus did supported everything Jesus said….and it all had to do with the authority, power, and purpose of God.
When Jesus first spoke those words in the Temple from Isaiah that the “Spirit of the Lord is on me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, to give sight to the blind, to release the oppressed,” He was letting the kingdom of this world know that the time had come for God to take back what was His! I wish I had time to say more, but let me close where I began; “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” and all of life from beginning to end will make sense.
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